Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

running

Hills and flattened caterpillars

Week 1, Day 2. After the soreness of the weekend, I wasn’t sure I was going to look forward to today’s run. But my legs were not as sore this morning as they were yesterday, so my outlook for today’s workout improved.

We tackled one of the giantish hills in our neighborhood but also slowed our pace a little. By the end, I was still breathing normal and I didn’t feel like I was going to puke. I realize these moments may return another time, but I’m glad that I felt good, maybe even great after today’s run.

Isabelle likes stretching with us. It’s adorable. I hope to get a picture soon. She takes good care of us as we “suit up” to run, making sure we have our shoes and socks and do our stretching. “You wanna stretch with me?” she asks after we get back. A fitness trainer in the making?

Phil stayed ahead of me today instead of beside, which was fine except that I didn’t always notice immediately when he stopped after a minute of running. I guess I run with my head down because I noticed a lot of flattened caterpillars on the road. And when I’d look up after running for a time, I’d see Phil walking, unsure of how long it had been since he stopped. In a few weeks, we hope to be running distances instead of times to give us a better gauge of how far we’re going.

We’re taking your advice and applying it as best we can. The encouragement is great. And being accountable to you keeps us going.

Till next time.

First run

Week 1, Day 1 completed.

If you’d have told me even a month ago that I would have run/walked for 20 minutes on purpose, because I wanted to, I would have said you were crazy.

But we did it today. And I actually looked forward to it. There were some tough moments. My husband’s stride is longer than mine, so we had to make some adjustments so I wouldn’t wear myself out trying to keep up with him. I had to remind myself not to go too fast too soon.

When the last minute of running was done, I had to will myself not to throw up. My lungs were burning. My legs wondered what had happened. And I felt a little bit sick. But by the time we finished the walk back to our friends’ house, where the kids were playing, I felt good.

Now, over an hour after we finished, I feel great. My legs hurt. I’ve discovered muscles I hadn’t used in a long time. I’ll probably feel worse tomorrow, and I’m sure when we set out to do this again on Monday that I might dread it.

But I’m excited.

Small steps.

Thanks for the support and encouragement already.